4 tips for successful digital marketing, from Dubai's STEP conference

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For the third round of the annual STEP Conference, held April 30th
in Al Serkal
Avenue in Dubai, organizers chose the topic of Innovation
at the Intersection of Media, Technology, and Design.

STEP founder, Ray Dargham, doesn’t believe the topic was
selected randomly. “Everyone is confused nowadays and trying to
determine the identity of their business, choosing between
technology, media, and design, whereas really the three are
interrelated pillars that the innovation process combines,” says
Dargham, who sees innovation as “a way of living and of looking at
things from different perspectives.”

Dargham wanted this event to be a platform for the change needed
in the region. For him, STEP seeks to “change the status quo and to
develop new ways to communicate without copying the West, by
customizing means in a manner that suits the region.”

For many of the attendees (700 people compared to 200 last
year), the event was successful: it gathered many key players in
the Arab ecosystem including entrepreneurs, startups, small and
large marketing and advertising agencies, venture capital
investors, incubators, and accelerators. STEP was the perfect
opportunity for many to network and to hear about the changes that
have taken place in the innovation process thanks to
technology.

Panelists discussed a variety of topics on the main
stage, from demos of wearable technology
such as Instabeat,
3D step counter Mymo from Tupelo,
and 3D glasses from Atheer
Labs, to the world of sharing economies, down to retail
technologies, innovation in marketing, and agencies entering the
digital world. The audience was enthusiastic; there was standing
room only available for most of the presentation.

There is no doubt that the digital
revolution has changed marketing and advertising, forcing
many agencies to adapt to new technologies. Gavin Payne from global
marketing agency JWT said “innovation is a word that we are
overusing these days… there is a fundamental difference between
innovative people and an innovation strategy.” He especially
stressed the idea that real innovation for him is a series of
“successful failures.”

Traditional large companies such as JWT and Leo Burnett MENA
have had to get on the digital revolution train and to change their
strategies. Payne says that large agencies have made this leap
possible by acquiring small digital agencies to benefit from their
skills “either by merging these small agencies with their
conventional departments or by assigning them digital campaigns,
which is what Leo Burnett did when it acquired digital marketing
agency Flip.”

According to Yousef Tuqan, Creative Director at Leo Burnett MENA
and former CEO of Flip, the agency would like to develop its
digital skills and has a lot of work to do in that sense. Tuqan
believes that the problem facing conventional agencies is that
“they are still not well versed at digital campaigns and should
adapt as well to mobile and social media campaigns.”

This idea was affirmed by Jad Hindy, founder and CEO of digital
marketing agency Netizency, who told us that “it is hard for
conventional agencies to create digital campaigns because they…
were built to operate in a specific manner which is now embedded in
their DNA. These companies have big accounts as well as many
employees and branches; however, they need a lot of time to
change.” Hindy sees digital marketing agencies as bridging the gap
between conventional communication and the next generation of
communication – and doesn’t mean just Facebook and Twitter. Rather,
“I am talking about integrating all marketing channels together. I
don’t use the term ‘integration’ anymore because of its misuse,
because real integration is to rely on mobile.”

So what are the pillars of success of digital
marketing?

1. Radical change in marketing
campaigns.For Payne, we we are
going through a transitional phase from “a campaign-based digital
approach to a product-based digital approach,” and the Arab region
is no exception to this rule. Payne asserted that campaigns will
continue to play an important role in the marketing and advertising
sector, but companies will head towards thinking more about the
product, such as by “creating a Ramadan app that users can continue
to use even after the end of the month of Ramadan.”

Hindy, for his part, stressed the idea that digital marketing
isn’t just about creating websites, but is rather “marketing that
has gone digital.” He said that any entrepreneur who would like to
go into the digital marketing sector should understand all the
secrets of the trade and not only be a coder. For him, “if you’re
not good at creating conventional marketing campaigns, you will
never succeed in launching a digital one.”

2. Skills. Finding the right skilled
employees remains the biggest challenge in the region. Tuqan told
us that “in the region, you can find people who are very good
digital wise and others who are good at marketing or advertising.
But it is very hard to find someone who masters both.” To combat
this, Leo Burnett has adopted a new recruitment approach: any new
employee should be proficient in the digital field. As for the
employees already working at the agency, next month he will launch
an overall training program to equip staff with skills, trends,
topics, and terminology used in digital marketing and advertising
campaigns.

3. The Idea. Despite all the changes in
marketing campaigns, the idea remains the most important factor.
Tuqan believes that “regardless of the tools and attention on
social media, the most important thing is to come up with a
compelling storyline that attracts the attention of people or gets
them to participate.” He is confident that if you want to build a
brand or a strong relationship with your customers, it is not just
about “going digital, but also about focusing on the content.”

4. Building trust. The customer is king
for every successful advertising or marketing firm. For Hindy, the
most important thing is to educate the customer to make them
understand and choose between the new tools available for digital
marketing campaigns. Payne sees that the most important thing is to
“build a partnership and a trust relationship with the customer… It
requires a lot of time to build a relationship with customers and
to get them to embrace change with you and become interested in
product-based campaigns,” he says, but it’s worth the effort.

In the end, the STEP 2014 event was an opportunity to exchange
ideas, knowledge, and skills. It wasn’t limited to side talks and
panel discussions alone, but also offered participants a number
of workshops that
revolved around several topics including the obstacles facing
creativity and innovation, and turning startups into brands.